A Trainer's Journey: Johto Beginnings
by Madninja324
Summary: Shy, but determined new trainer Ivan Deloria is on his Pokemon journey, alongside a stubborn starter and a hyperactive rival Uses a mix of HeartGold/SoulSilver and anime continuities
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon**

 **This is my first attempt at Pokemon fanfiction, so any constructive comments are welcome, positive or negative, though flamers will be ignored, also, if someone could tell me what Elm's actual first name is that would be great**

Chapter one: A bumpy start

The day had started normally enough for Richard Elm, the esteemed Pokemon Professor of the Johto Region had woken up, kissed his wife and son goodbye for the day, and headed into work for another day of research. The somewhat absent-minded scientist had expected to spend the day with his nose in books and maybe sending his aide to buy a Thunderstone for his study of Pokemon evolution. He certainly hadn't expected someone to tap on the door to his lab as if they expected the slab of wood to hit back.

Pushing back from his cluttered desk, Professor Elm walked over to see who was interrupting his research, not that he minded, it was nearly lunchtime, and without the interruption he likely would have forgotten to eat again. The visitor was a young boy, slightly older than the Professor's usual visitors, Elm judged the boy to be around fourteen. He was short and skinny, with uncertain grey eyes and ear length white hair that he was fiddling with in what was obviously a nervous tic of some sort.

Professor Elm fixed an inviting smile on his face, this boy looked like he was seconds away from bolting and Richard Elm wasn't the kind of man who would scare away someone who clearly needed help of some kind. "Greetings young man! I am Professor Elm, may I be of assistance?"

The boy's reply wasn't what he was expecting, the boy's voice was soft, stuttering, but sure in its purpose. "H-Hello, Prof-fessor, I-I-I'm Ivan." The young man took a deep breath and spoke without the stutter. "I would like to go on my pokemon journey, would it be possible for you to supply a starter pokemon and a pokedex, please?" Professor Elm blinked at the boy's sudden shift from barely able to get a word out to stiff and formal, and then softly pleading with the last word. Still, his job was clear.

"Of course, it is the duty of the Pokemon Professors to supply both of those things to any child whose parents or school are unable to do it themselves, have you given any thought as to which of the three Johto starters you will choose?"

Ivan shook his head. "N-No, I know what each of them are, but I decided to wait until I could meet each of them before making my choice."

Professor Elm smiled."Fair enough, it's generally best to pick the pokemon you feel the strongest connection with, rather than the Type you like best." Ivan just nodded, looking distractedly over at the trio of pokeballs that Professor Elm kept at the back of his lab for situations exactly like this one. "Alright Ivan, let's get you fixed up with a pokedex, then we can get down to picking your first pokemon." It took a couple of minutes for them to find a spare pokedex in the clutter, but once they located one Professor Elm took it upon himself to show the new trainer all its features. Once that had been accomplished the Pokemon Professor took the young boy into the back area of his lab to pick the pokemon that he would begin his journey with.

"You said that you knew what each starting pokemon was, but it's traditional for a Professor to introduce a new Trainer to each of them before he or she makes their choice, alright?" Ivan nodded resolutely, though he was still fiddling with his hair, Professor Elm wondered if he was even aware of what he was doing as he lifted the first pokeball from it's housing and released the creature inside.

" _Cyndaquil, the Fire Mouse Pokemon, it usually stays hunched over, if it is angry or surprised, it shoots flames from its back."_ Professor Elm started slightly as the synthesized voice of Ivan's pokedex rattled off the basic information of the pokemon sitting in front of them.

"Yes, well, as you just heard, this is the Fire starter Cyndaquil, go ahead and introduce yourself." Ivan nodded, then crouched down to put himself closer to the small pokemon's level.

"Hello Cyndaquil, I'm Ivan, it's nice to meet you." The young boy held out a hand to the Fire Mouse Pokemon. Cyndaquil sniffed the hand once, then immediately turned its back on the young trainer, Ivan's smile faltered and his hand dropped back to his side.

The young boy looked up at Professor Elm and shook his head. Elm returned Cyndaquil to its pokeball and replaced the pokeball in its housing, before lifting out the second pokeball and releasing its contents onto the floor.

This time he was expecting Ivan to scan the new pokemon. " _Chikorita, the Leaf Pokemon, it's pleasantly aromatic leaf has the ability to check the humidity and temperature."_

"As the pokedex stated, this is Chikorita, the Grass Type, you can introduce yourself to it now Ivan." The little grass type bounded over to nuzzle affectionately into the young trainer's hand, then began dashing around the room, looking at and sniffing everything. Ivan smiled fondly at the energetic pokemon, then shrugged in Elm's direction, the Pokemon Professor sighed and recalled Chikorita. Once he had replaced Chikorita's ball with the final starter, Professor Elm released it.

" _Totodile, the Big Jaw Pokemon, it's small, but rough and tough. It won't hesitate to take a bite out of anything that moves."_

Professor Elm was about to make his little introduction for the third time when Totodile waddled forward, for several seconds pokemon and trainer stared each other down, then Ivan smiled and extended his hand to the tiny blue crocodile.

 _Chomp!_ The next few seconds were confusing as Ivan began flailing in panic, unintentionally whipping Totodile around in the process. The Big Jaw Pokemon had bitten the young boy on his outstretched hand, and was holding on tightly as he tried to shake it off. After a minute of frantic flailing Ivan succeeded in dislodging Totodile, though the force of the shaking sent the little pokemon flying into a wall, something Ivan obviously hadn't meant to happen as he immediately disregarded his own, still bleeding, hand to scramble over to the dazed pokemon.

"Totodile, are you ok? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you, I was just trying to get you to let go." Professor Elm took a second to appreciate the sight of a fourteen year old boy expressing genuine concern for a pokemon that had only seconds before left a bleeding gash on his hand. Once Professor Elm was sure that Totodile was in fact fine he returned the Big Jaws Pokemon to its ball, then he turned to the young Trainer.

"Alright, you've met the starters, which one will you be choosing as your first Pokemon?"

Once again Ivan surprised him, the white haired young man squared thin shoulders and met Professor Elm's eyes directly for the first time since they'd met.

"I've decided to pick Totodile, sir."

"A-are you sure young man? I'm sure I don't need to remind you that it bit you within seconds of meeting you, right?"

Ivan nodded gravely before responding. "You said to pick the Pokemon I felt the deepest connection with, Cyndaquil wasn't even interested in meeting me, Chikorita didn't pay attention to anything in particular, but Totodile marched right up to me and challenged me to prove to him that I was worthy to be his Trainer, it wasn't his fault that I don't measure up to his expectations. But I want the chance to become worthy to battle at Totodile's side."

Professor Elm couldn't really find it in himself to speak out against this level of conviction. "Very well, if you're sure, congratulations on receiving your first pokemon, I'm sure you and Totodile will go far." With that, Johto's Pokemon Professor handed over Totodile's pokeball.

"Now, let's see what we can do about that bite."

Half an hour later Ivan Deloria stepped out of Richard Elm's Pokemon Lab with Totodile's pokeball attached to his belt, and a blood stained bandage on his right hand, ready to finally embark on his Pokemon journey. He made it two steps out the door before someone crashed into him.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" The girl's voice registered before Ivan's dazed brain could actually work out what had crashed into him at thoroughly unnecessary speeds. Once his eyes refocused, the new trainer turned his attention to the person shaped missile that had hit him. She had brown hair pulled into a ponytail and a weirdly familiar face pulled into a scowl. She was, impressively, shorter than him, and Ivan was overdue for at least a couple growth spurts.

"S-sorry, I-I w-w-wasn't p-p-p..." Sudden nerves had Ivan tripping over his words, even as he climbed back to his feet.

"Oh no, Stutters, you aren't getting off that easily, you and I are gonna have a Pokemon battle!"

Thankfully, Professor Elm chose that moment to intervene. "Lily, what have I told you about rushing everywhere? You need to apologize to Ivan, he wasn't the one who came barrelling through my door as if there wasn't anyone in your way. And really, challenging him to a battle less than an hour after he got his first Pokemon, can't it wait? You've been a Trainer for a full week, at least let him get through a day first."

Lily grimaced and turned to face Ivan. "Tch, fine, tomorrow, 11 AM, one on one outside Cherrygrove." Then her scowl softened into something almost resembling contrition. "And... sorry for running you over like that, I can forget to look where I'm going sometimes."

Ivan didn't really trust himself to speak without totally losing control of his stuttering, so he nodded, accepting both the apology and the challenge in one motion. Lily's smile was bright and sharp. "Alright, Stutters, see you then. Later, Uncle Richie!" And with a wave toward Professor Elm, Lily dashed off. The Pokemon Professor just shook his head muttered low enough that Ivan barely heard him. "That girl... always rushing everywhere."

Turning his attention to the white haired teenager, Professor Elm pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and gave an embarrassed smile. "Sorry about my Niece, she's a remarkable young woman, but she has no patience at all. I would like to ask something of you that might be an imposition, and I want to make it very clear that I will not insist on this if you decide against it but: would you please befriend her? Lily could use some calmer heads in her life." Ivan stood stock still for enough seconds that Professor Elm worried he'd asked too much of the shy Trainer, then the boy nodded, and the older man saw a spark of that same quiet determination that had showed when he'd defended his choice of starter earlier flicker in his eyes.

 **And that's Chapter one, next up is Ivan's first battle with his new rival, but how will our hero handle his problems with Totodile?**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: A Weak Bond

Ivan woke up on the second official day of his pokemon journey and groaned as the aches set in, he was going to have to get used to sleeping in the free lodgings Pokemon Centers provided to visiting Trainers eventually, but he definitely wasn't yet. Swinging his feet out of the flat bed, the young Trainer's eyes fell on the pokeball sitting atop the tiny nightstand, Totodile, despite his determination to prove to the little blue croc that he could be a trainer worthy of the starter, he didn't have the slightest idea how he'd actually _accomplish_ that feat. After all, what kind of worthy trainer just ran away from their problems like... No, Ivan knew from experience that if he let himself dwell he'd just keep going into a downward spiral that would leave him unable to leave the room until they came to kick him out. The Pokemon Centers might provide rooms for Trainers, but they weren't hotels, and guests were expected to be able to vacate at any moment should it become necessary.

Taking a deep breath to steel his nerves, Ivan scooped up his backpack and Totodile's pokeball and headed for the Center's shower. Once he was showered and fully dressed, with his only pokeball clipped to his belt and his backpack slung across his back, Ivan stepped out of the Cherrygrove Pokemon Center took in the sights, Cherrygrove City was barely a city at all in Ivan's opinion, it was very large for a town, but compared to the metropolises of his home region this place was tiny. Ivan honestly preferred Cherrygrove to the city he'd grown up in, the place itself was fine, but Cherrygrove just had a friendlier atmosphere to it, the wood and brick buildings, the smell of the sea air, and the unseasonable cherry trees that gave the small city its name all combined into an ambiance that left the shy Trainer with a warm feeling, since he still had a couple hours before his battle with Lily Ivan decided to spend the time until then wandering around the city. During his impromptu tour of the city Ivan made a quick stop at the Pokemart for supplies.

Eleven o'clock found Ivan standing across from Lily twenty feet from the north entrance to Cherrygrove City. Remembering the Professor's request, and also to simply be polite, Ivan gave a shaky smile to his new rival and stumbled out a greeting. "G-good morning Lily."

Lily's answering grin was bright and confident, and Ivan found himself wondering if he could ever be half as self assured as she was. "'Morning to you too, Stutters."

"I-Ivan, m-my, n-name is Ivan." He hadn't meant for it to, but a flash of mild irritation must have bled into his voice, because Lily blinked, then her expression turned into a rueful smile. "Sorry, I probably should have asked, instead of just tacking a nickname on you and leaving it at that."

"I-It's fine, I shouldn't have g-gotten an-noyed when I never a-actually introduced m-myself."

"Well, if you insist, I'd disagree, but I have a feeling we'd be arguing this point for another hour, and we have a pokemon battle to get to."

"A-alright."

Both trainers turned and walked a short distance away from each other and turned to face their opponent, as if Ivan needed any proof of the Professor's claims that Lily was more experienced than him, and he really hadn't, the fact that two occupied pokeballs adorned her belt made his already low confidence in his and Totodile's chances plummet. Unfortunately, however the shy boy was more than aware that if he and Totodile were ever going to be able to work together they would both need to experience battle at some point, and there was no time like the present, right?

Lily outlined the rules for the battle. "Here's the deal, since you've only got one Pokemon, this is just going to be a simple one on one situation, the fight ends when one Pokemon faints, or it's trainer returns it to it's pokeball, items such as potions, and status cures are allowed, but only three times, or we'll be here all afternoon. Got it?"

Ivan nodded and both trainers pulled their chosen pokemon's ball from their belt, Ivan's choice was simple, one quick toss had Totodile bursting free. On the other side of the makeshift battlefield Lily sent out her own pokemon, a Chikorita. "Time to kick some butt, Alice!"

Immediately, Ivan's mind began racing with tactics and strategies, but he was too slow.

His opponent's voice rang out, shouting orders to her pokemon. "Alice, use Razor Leaf!"

"Chika!" The leaf on top of the little Grass Type's head glowed green and with two swings of her head Alice the Chikorita sent two rapidly spinning blades of plant matter tearing through the air towards Totodile.

"Dodge it!" The order burst from Ivan's mouth, and Totodile sprang out of the way of the attack. Though whether this was in response to Ivan's order, or his own plan was unclear, as the next moment involved the water starter completely ignoring his Trainer's call for a Leer and making his way towards his opponent as fast as his short legs would take him.

Panic flared in Ivan's chest. "W-Wait! Totodile!" The Big Jaw Pokemon wasn't listening, and Ivan didn't know how to slow things down so that he could _think_. Everything was moving too fast for the shy Trainer to adjust. At her Trainer's order, Alice the Chikorita launched a second Razor Leaf attack, and at point blank range there was no way it would miss. The blade-like leaves slammed into Totodile and hurled him back towards his Trainer, who cried out as if he had been the one to be hit. "Totodile! A-Are y-you ok?!" The little Water Type struggled to his feet and Ivan decided to take advantage of the lull in the action, since Lily had decided not to attack until Totodile was ready to fight, Ivan pulled out a potion and began spraying it on his Pokemon's wounds. "Your w-way isn't work-king, you c-can hit pr-retty hard f-for your s-size, b-but Chikorita i-is tou-ough en-nough to take w-what you c-can dish-sh ou-out, and i-it d-doesn-n't n-need to b-be as s-strong a-as you bec-cause it's pr-rim-mary atta-acking move is one y-y-you a-are v-vuln-nerable t-to." The longer Ivan spoke, the worse his stutter got, but he needed to get this out. "W-we d-don-n't ha-ave m-much of a-a ch-chan-nce to w-win, I-I'll be hon-nest, b-b-but i-if-f we w-want t-to h-ha-ave _any_ ch-chance w-we n-need t-to w-w-wor-rk t-togeth-ther. Got it?" Totodile nodded "Dile."

On the other side of the battlefield, Lily was tapping her foot and scowling with impatience. "Are you boys ready to give us a real fight, or am I just wasting all our times?"

The hot headed girl's scowl turned into a genuine, if slightly wolfish, smile as her opponent stood and fixed her with a determined stare. "W-we're r-r-eady." Beside him, Totodile chipped in his two cents. "Totodile, Dile."

"A-alright Totodile, you need to keep y-your distance for now, those Razor Leaves will t-tear you ap-part, if you don't g-give yourself t-time and space to avoid them. Now let's start off with a Leer!" Yellow sparks flew from Totodile's eyes, and though they faded immediately Alice winced as her defense weakened a little. At her Trainer's order the Grass Starter retaliated with more Razor Leaves, but Totodile was able to leap out of the path of the spinning leaves, sending a responding Leer back at his opponent as his feet hit the ground.

"O-One more L-Leer, th-then charge!" At his Trainer's command Totodile's eyes flashed yellow for a third time, and the little blue croc broke into a dead sprint right for his opponent.

Lily smirked and called for another Razor Leaf attack, which Alice sent spinning at her charging foe with two swings of her head leaf. This time the smile was on Ivan's face, a small uptick in the corner of his mouth that had Lily barking an order at the same time as his.

"J-Jump over them, an-nd use S-Scratch attack!"

"Alice, use Growl, then Poison Powder!"

Both Pokemon responded to their Trainers' orders at once, Alice's Growl lowered Totodile's attack power at the same time as the little lizard's stubby tail cleared the Razor Leaves, a burst of purple spores blasted from the seed-like protrusions around the Chikorita's neck, Totodile burst through the poisonous cloud less than a second later, swinging a claw with all it's might at the Grass Type. The Scratch connected, but wasn't enough to do more than make Alice stagger backward a few steps, then, as Totodile winced from the pain of his poisoning Lily called for a final Razor Leaf, and with no room or momentum to dodge, the spinning blades of vegetable matter crashed into Totodile, launching it off it's feet, and into a messy tumble. For a second the determined Water Type tried to stand back up, then the poison sapped the last of the strength keeping Totodile conscious. The match was over.

Both Trainers recalled their Pokemon and walked forward to shake hands. Predictably, Lily spoke first. "I guess you didn't end up wasting our time after all, but where was that fire from the second half of the fight in the first part? It looked like that Totodile was barely listening to you there."

"U-um...uhh..." His already shaky confidence had taken a hit from the loss and being reminded of his further failure as a Trainer just made everything worse, a response froze in Ivan's throat and the shy trainer stood rooted to the spot, unable to make a sound, but refusing to allow his impulse to flee the situation to take over.

"Well?" Lily demanded, oblivious to her former opponent's internal struggles. Again, Ivan tried to answer, and again the words never made it past his suddenly lead tongue. Finally Lily gave an impatient scoff and turned away. "Fine, but if you continue like this you won't even make it past the first Gym Leader, much less make it to the Silver Conference." With that, Lilly Elm walked away, leaving Ivan to slink back the Cherrygrove Pokemon Center in shame.

Several hours later, after Totodile had fully recovered, he and Ivan sat on the grass just outside the east entrance to Cherrygrove City, the little blue Pokemon was glaring at it's trainer and Ivan couldn't really blame him. They sat in silence for a few more moments before the white haired teenager broke the silence. "I'm not g-good at thi-this: being ar-round people and p-pokemon, I've g-got l-lots of t-techn-nical kn-nowledge, but I don't h-have much a-actual practice at it, I ran away f-from home bec-cause I kn-new that i-if I stayed th-that wou-would never ch-change. I know I d-don't m-meas-sure u-up to w-what you w-want in a T-Trainer, b-but I-I'd l-like the ch-chan-nce t-to ch-change th-that, i-if y-you w-would b-be will-ling to g-give me th-that ch-chance."

Both boy and pokemon sat in silence until the sky had begun to darken, then Ivan turned to his starter pokemon. "So, w-would y-you be wi-willing to g-give m-me a ch-chance?"

Totodile wasn't glaring anymore, instead the little blue crocodile was examining Ivan's face intently. Then the Water starter nodded and Ivan's face broke into a relieved smile.

"Th-Thank you for that, I won't l-let you d-down. Now that it's dark w-we can c-catch our f-first t-teammate." With the teamwork issue settled, for now at least, Ivan returned Totodile to his pokeball and headed out into the night.

Ivan didn't really know how to go about searching for wild pokemon, so he just wandered around in the dark, occasionally tripping over a stray root or stone. It was almost an hour before he found anything: on a nearby tree branch a pair of huge red eyes glowed in the dark, Ivan pulled out his pokedex and pointed the lit screen in the direction of the unnerving gaze to reveal a Hoothoot. The Owl Pokemon's unblinking eyes remained fixed on the young Trainer as it tilted it's round body in curiosity. "Hoot." After that soft cry of greeting the little Flying Type hopped off its branch and fluttered to the ground. Boy and bird stood staring at each other for several seconds, enthralled, at least until Ivan remembered that getting into a staring contest with a pokemon that needed to blink far less often than he did would accomplish nothing, ears burning with embarrassment Ivan reached into his bag and took out some pokemon food which he then knelt down and offered to the nocturnal bird. Hoothoot meanwhile gave a delighted hoot and hopped over to begin eating the proffered treat with some gusto, though it took care not to catch Ivan's fingers in its sharp beak, when it was finished eating Hoothoot hopped onto Ivan's knee and gave him an affectionate nuzzle, the white haired teenager let out a surprised laugh as he shook the remaining crumbs from his hands and returned the pokemon's gesture by stroking it's feathers between the eyebrowlike feather extensions. "Haha, y-you're a friendly o-one aren't y-you? Um, w-would you l-like to come w-with me on my jou-journey?" Hoothoot gave a happy cry and nodded, Ivan pulled an empty pokeball from his bag and pressed it against Hoothoot's forehead, red light engulfed the friendly little bird and in a second Hoothoot was in it's new pokeball, the capture device clicked closed, and with Hoothoot's pokeball attached to his belt Ivan Deloria walked back to Cherrygrove City in the dark.

* * *

(Author's Note: this is not the end of Ivan's and Totodile's issues, just the beginning of their working through them, I plan on having this go on for a while, though it will end well before the Silver Conference. This story is planned as part of a five entry series dealing with Ivan's growth as a character, among other things, so if things aren't moving quite as fast in that regard as you might expect it's because I'm playing the long game with him, for instance the shyness isn't planned to even BEGIN to improve until the end of book two into book three, and the stutter will never fully go away because it's partially physical (I hadn't planned my first chapter out quite as much so that's why there are instances where he speaks without stuttering at least a little there) as always, please read, review, and most of all enjoy the ride)


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